The system and method according to the invention may be advantageously applied in a variety of contexts where it is desired to label articles for identification with minimal impact on the appearance of the articles, for example items that have been specially wrapped for presentation, articles having critical information printed on an exterior surface, decorative items and the like. Another application in which the system and method of the invention may be advantageously utilized is in connection with mail piece labeling for automated processing.
Modern postal services, for example, the U.S. Postal Service, handle massive volumes of mail pieces on a daily basis. Consequently, automated handling and sorting equipment is employed whenever and wherever possible to facilitate the sorting, processing and distribution of mail pieces. Such systems have been proven extremely effective in sorting large volume mail flows, but these systems have limitations. These systems may use either optical character recognition (OCR) technology to recognize the addresses or codes placed on the envelopes, or may use relatively simple scanners to scan a machine readable code such as a bar code which has been recorded or applied to each mail piece. The OCR/CS system often includes a printer for printing bar-code formatted ZIP codes (or similar codes) on envelopes or on labels applied to mail pieces so that each mail piece might be further sorted at local stations more efficiently. Typically, the mail pieces are coded and sorted according to a sort scheme into numerous groups (e.g. a range of ZIP codes, ZIP code (5 digits), ZIP code (9 digits), etc.).
Facilitating the delivery of certain types of mass mailings is the process of presorting. A substantial percentage of the mail the USPS delivers on a regular basis consists of mass mailings. These mass mailings typically consist of advertisements, promotional materials, solicitations, bills and similar materials. Such mailings are printed, addressed or labeled in accordance with a presort scheme to aid in delivery of the mailings and/or presorted in some cases down to the delivery point. The presort scheme is normally by destination address and the mailings are presented to the national postal service accordingly. In many cases, the presort operation includes labeling or addressing the mail pieces with bar coded information such as the ZIP plus four code to facilitate down stream processing. Presort mailing often includes catalogues, brochures, magazines and similar items.
Automated processing of presorted flats, such as magazines and catalogues presents certain mechanical and imaging problems not encountered in connection with automated processing of letters. Although in many cases these mail pieces will have a user-applied postnet bar code, problems are often encountered in locating the coded region of interest (ROI) on the cover of the flat. These problems include poor contrast ratios and partial obscuration due to printed backgrounds, label skew (rotation from horizontal or vertical alignment), and the large amount of printed information which often appears on the covers, including text and other bar codes, which tends to confuse high-speed algorithmic approaches to ROI finding.
A solution for a portion of the mail stream is for the postal service to apply conventional paper labels on which a conventional bar code is then printed, thus ensuring consistent placement and, if necessary, the use of visual keys. However, a large percentage of the volume of flat mail consists of magazines and catalogues for which this is not a good solution.
Publishers of magazines, catalogues, brochures and similar articles intended for mail delivery often spend large sums on the design, layout and content of the covers of such publications in order to achieve the desired visual impact on the recipient. High quality paper, elaborate design, layout and expensive reproduction techniques escalate the cost of catalogues and brochures that may be summarily discarded by the recipient. In many instances, the initial reaction of the recipient to the cover of a catalogue or similar publication will determine whether the recipient keeps the catalogue for further examination or immediately discards it as he or she sorts through that day's mail. If the visual appearance is degraded or the publisher's message is partially obscured by a label, the value of the mailing is reduced. Consequently, there is a great deal of resistance on the part of the distributors of such catalogues and magazines to any printing or labeling of the publications cover that might tend to detract from the cover's appearance and its visual impact on the consumer. Thus, the publishers and distributors of magazines, catalogues and brochures intended for mail delivery generally object to labeling of the cover of these publications with a typical printed stick-on bar coded label of the type used by postal and delivery services to aid in processing and sorting mailed items.
Attempts to use fluorescent inks have met with little success due to problems with long drying times for such inks, smearing of the ink and poor contrast ratios with respect to the underlying substrate. The latter problem is associated with papers having high fluorescence, i.e., recycled papers.
Thus there exists a need for a label and system that allows the use of techniques and processes for automated labeling and identification of articles designed to convey a distinct visual impression. This is particularly true of catalogues, magazines, brochures and similar publications intended for mail delivery where a system and method that allows information to be coded onto the publication with minimal visual impact on the cover of the publication would be highly desirable. The invention addresses this need with a label and labeling system having a minimal optical impact and reading system capable of reliably reading these labels.